UPSC Essentials | Daily subject-wise prelims quiz: Take today’s History and Culture quiz (week 147)

(b) Jawaharlal Nehru

(c) Maulana Abul Kalam Azad

(d) B. R. Ambedkar

Relevance: This question tests an aspirant’s understanding of modern Indian history through primary sources, linking personalities with their ideological positions. It also reflects UPSC’s pattern of framing nuanced questions from historical writings, requiring careful reading and contextual awareness rather than superficial memorisation.

Explanation

Mahatma Gandhi published his article titled “The Jews” in his weekly magazine Harijan on November 26, 1938. Written in response to the persecution of Jews in Germany, the piece expressed sympathy for the Jewish people while opposing the Zionist project in Palestine, arguing the land belonged to the Arabs. 

“Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English, or France to the French,” Mahatma Gandhi wrote in an article titled “The Jews” in Harijan in 1938. Gandhi had deep sympathies for the Jewish people, who had been historically persecuted for their religion.

“My sympathies are all with the Jews… They have been the untouchables of Christianity. The parallel between their treatment by Christians and the treatment of untouchables by Hindus is very close. Religious sanction has been invoked in both cases for the justification of the inhuman treatment meted out to them,” Gandhi wrote in the Harijan article.

“The German persecution of the Jews seems to have no parallel in history,” Gandhi said. He expressed concern over Britain’s policy of placating Adolf Hitler (before World War II broke out in September 1939), and said that for the cause of humanity and to prevent the persecution of the Jewish people, even a war with Germany would be “completely justified”.

“If there ever could be a justifiable war in the name of and for humanity, a war against Germany, to prevent the wanton persecution of a whole race, would be completely justified,” he wrote.

Gandhi had a long association with the Jewish people; during his time in South Africa (1893-1914), most of his friends were Jewish. Notable among them were the likes of Hermann Kallenbach, who remained a lifelong associate of the Mahatma.

In her book Gandhi and his Jewish Friends (1992), Margaret Chatterjee wrote that Gandhi saw the East European Jewish immigrants in South Africa “as a group of people who, like Indians, were being victimised for no fault of their own… [They] became his closest friends and on whom he depended for his social and political work both in Johannesburg and London.”

Despite his sympathies for the Jewish people, Gandhi was not keen on a Zionist state. He believed that a call for a Jewish homeland would undermine the Jewish people’s cause to be treated with dignity, and as equals elsewhere in the world.

Therefore, a is the correct answer.

QUESTION 2

Consider the following statements with reference to the history of India:

1. By the time the French decided to launch an East India Company, the Portuguese had already been in India for about 150 years, and the Dutch and the English for about 50 years.

2. Unlike the English East India Company, the French East India Company was primarily set up by groups of investors who wanted to profit from trade and was later supported by the national government.

Which of the statements given above is/are true?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Relevance: This question is relevant for UPSC Prelims as it tests an aspirant’s understanding of European trading companies and the early phases of colonisation in India,  a core area of Modern Indian History. It also reflects UPSC’s trend of asking comparative and analytical questions rather than simple chronological facts.

Explanation

By the time French decided to launch an East India Company under Louis XIV in the middle of the 17th century, the Portuguese had already been in India for about 150 years, and the Dutch and the English for about 50 years. So the French decided that they needed to try to catch up with their European rivals, particularly the Dutch.

Later on, it was the rivalry with the British that became very important to the French. But at the beginning, the French saw their Northern European neighbours, the Dutch, as very successful economically. They saw some of the textiles, the spices, and the other products that were being brought back from the Indian Ocean in the early 17th century to Northern Europe, and they wanted to get involved.

There were a couple of failed attempts, in the beginning, to establish a French East India. It is finally in 1664 that a company was launched with the backing of the French state and King Louis XIV.

The French East India Company was set up at the initiative of the French government. It was set up by the chief minister in Louis XIV’s government. The British and Dutch East India companies were primarily set up by groups of investors who wanted to profit from this trade, and then they were supported by their national governments. The French company, in contrast, was set up by a government that then tried to convince French investors to get involved.

Therefore, a is the correct answer.

QUESTION 3

The Aihole Inscription (7th century CE), composed by Ravikirti, primarily details the military campaigns of which of the following rulers?

(a) Harshavardhana

(b) Pulakeshin II

(c) Vikramaditya I

(d) Narasimhavarman I

Relevance: This question is relevant for UPSC Prelims as it tests knowledge of important inscriptions, which are key primary sources for reconstructing Ancient Indian political history. It also reflects UPSC’s focus on linking rulers, events, and inscriptions rather than asking isolated factual details.

Explanation

A eulogistic inscription engraved on a temple wall that records the military campaigns of the Chalukya ruler Pulakeshin II, including his victory over Harshavardhana.

Therefore, b is the correct answer.

QUESTION 4

Consider the following statements with reference to Bhagat Singh:

1. Lala Lajpat Rai was brutally beaten by Superintendent of Police Saunders while leading a protest against the Simon Commission, and following his death from the injuries, Bhagat Singh and his associates resolved to avenge him by assassinating Saunders.

2. Following his hanging, at an annual Congress session, Nehru moved an official resolution condemning the execution, seconded by Madan Mohan Malviya.

Which of the above given statements is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Relevance: This question is relevant for UPSC Prelims as it tests an aspirant’s understanding of the revolutionary phase of the freedom struggle and the nuanced roles played by different national leaders. It also reflects UPSC’s approach of framing statement-based questions that require careful attention to historical accuracy rather than relying on popular narratives.

Explanation

On 23rd March, 1931, Bhagat Singh, Raj Guru and Sukhdev were hanged to death. They were given the death sentence in the Lahore conspiracy case. Lala Lajpat Rai was brutally beaten by the Superintendent of Police, J.S. Scott, while leading a demonstration against the Simon Commission. He died of fatal injuries on November 17, 1928. Enraged by this brutality, Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Sukhdev and Chandra Shekhar Azad decided to avenge Lala Lajpat Rai’s death by killing Scott. In the event, it was another police officer, Saunders, who was shot dead by them in a case of mistaken identity.

After the hanging, in an annual Congress session, Nehru moved an official resolution, which was seconded by Madan Mohan Malviya. Despite Congress’s official position decrying any violence, the resolution condemned the execution. It read, “This Congress is of the opinion that this triple execution is an act of wanton vengeance and is a deliberate flouting of the unanimous demand of the nation for commutation”.

Therefore, b is the correct answer.

QUESTION 5

The term “Vetti” refers to:

(a) A system of forced labour

(b) A revenue settlement introduced by the British in the Madras Presidency

(c) A tribal uprising against the Nizam’s rule

(d) A customary land tax collected in princely states

Relevance: This question is relevant for UPSC Prelims as it tests awareness of socio-economic practices Indian History. It also reflects UPSC’s tendency to ask questions on lesser-known terms that require conceptual clarity rather than surface-level reading.

Explanation

Vetti historically refers to a form of forced labor or non-monetary taxation in ancient and medieval South India, particularly during the Chola dynasty, where citizens were forced to work for the state without pay.

Therefore, a is the correct answer.

Previous Daily Subject-Wise-Quiz

Daily subject-wise quiz – International Relations (Week 151)

Daily Subject-wise quiz — History, Culture, and Social Issues (Week 146)

Daily subject-wise quiz — Polity and Governance (Week 151)

Daily subject-wise quiz —  Science and Technology (Week 151)

Daily subject-wise quiz — Economy (Week 151)

Daily subject-wise quiz — Environment and Geography (Week 151)

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